Termination Anxiety
by mandaree1
Summary: Late night in the forge with Bismuth. It's been a long, long time coming.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe!**

 **Title: Termination Anxiety**

 **Summary: Late night in the forge with Bismuth. It's been a long, long time coming.**

 **Warnings: Bismuth is angry and filled with angry thoughts.**

 **...**

The Breaking Point is Bismuth's greatest creation. It's also her last.

Bismuth feels her insides coil at the thought. No, she's got plenty of fight in her left yet.

Even still, those words had an air of truth to them as she fiddled with the straps to her newest marvel. It fit perfectly, as it should; it was designed for gems with plenty of character in them.

Gems like Rose Quartz.

Bismuth shuddered as the second strap fixed itself to her. The Breaking Point felt perfect in her arms; a miracle gifted to be gifted again.

Bismuth doesn't delude herself with pessimism. This hunk of metal in her hands can and will be the very thing to end the war.

No matter what the cost.

She hadn't hesitated, when the idea first started to emerge in her mind. Hammering out parts with no real direction, letting it come together in time with a sense of awe.

Tomorrow, she will give the Breaking Point to _her_. Tomorrow, the war will be as good as over. Tomorrow, Bismuth will die.

There was that sinking feeling again.

It's not like she _wants_ to die, she reminds herself sensibly, idly watching the side panels flip open. Oh, no. Never. She's got pals to watch over, you know? friends.

She's doin' this _for_ those friends.

Bismuth hadn't always been this creative. She has Rose to thank, she supposes, for that development.

It didn't have to be just one. Given enough time, Bismuth could make them in the thousands. Every Crystal Gem would have one. Everybody would be safe. No more worries. But, if that were to happen...

No! No. Bismuth shook the thought away, deeply angry with herself. Any real maker knew that the more there were, the more common they were, the more likely they would fall into the wrong hands. There could be only one Breaking Point.

That being said, Bismuth herself would be a risk. Her name would go down in gem history; the first of her caliber to do so. But the price would be incomparable.

Bismuth is no snitch. However, that didn't mean Homeworld wasn't willing to torture every part of her away until she had nothing left, then slowly extract the plans from her lifeless corpse. It could take millennia, but they would be willing to wait. They never did play fair.

Bismuth isn't willing to take that chance.

Many a failed attempt lay at the bottom of her lava pits, so to speak. Each and every one of them had one thing in common.

They fit into her gem.

It wasn't easy, jabbing the pointed end into her gem every single time she went to fiddle with the mechanisms, testing the durability and size. Bile rose in her throat at the mere thought of it, but necessity had overrun her fear. The Breaking Point was to be used for all gems types; even ones as big, or even bigger than, Bismuth herself.

It wasn't fun, but Bismuth had done it, 'cause Bismuth was loyal. She knew better than to afford the risk it might only crack a gem.

There was nothing more honorable, in her opinion, than to fall at Rose Quartz's hands. Her greatest invention cradled there, with just the right amount of love, would make it worth all the more to her.

Bismuth would offer herself as the first gem test subject, to check for any final bugs to be hammered out by another Bismuth. A final guarantee of the Breaking Point's power.

If Rose had any sense, she'd take that offer.

The metal end drew back. The tip of the spike collided with some drawback, but not enough to make her stumble. Bismuth watched blankly as the remains of her rock dummy, one of many to be shattered, fell into the lava with a gurgle.

It worked perfectly. Just as she knew it would.

She hoped, for the sake of avenging every fallen soldier, that Bismuth's last moments would be filled with agony. She wanted to feel every little piece of her gem as it flew through the air and sunk into the boiling rock.

She wanted proof that every single one of those Homeworld gems would have to _feel it_.

 **Author's Note: I noticed that the Breaking Point fit almost perfectly into Bismuth's in-e, and I thought what better way to celebrate the arrival and departure of this lovely gem than with an angst drabble?**

 **-Mandaree1**


End file.
